BACKGROUND Despite the persistence of significant disparities, few evaluations examine disparities in laboratory testing by race/ethnicity, age, sex, Medicaid eligibility, and number of chronic conditions for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries' newly prescribed medications. In Medicare beneficiaries initiating diuretics or digoxin, this study examined disparities in guideline-appropriate ba...

received additional monthly benefits because of the increase in the exempt amount. Further increases in the exempt amount would undoubtedly continue to be accompanied by even more rapid increases in the proportion of 4-quarter workers, including full-time workers, who would be able to draw benefits. One of the inequities of the retirement test before the 1954 amendments was the dual exemption g...

STUDY OBJECTIVES Health care utilization has progressively increased, especially among Medical Aid beneficiaries in South Korea. The Medical Aid classifies beneficiaries into two categories, type 1 and 2, on the basis of being incapable (those under 18 or over 65 years of age, or disabled) or capable of working, respectively. Medical Aid has a high possibility for health care utilization due to...

This study estimates the effect of Medicare Advantage (MA) payments and State Medicaid policies on the choice by Medicaid eligible Medicare beneficiaries to either join a MA plan, remain in the fee-for-service (FFS) and enroll in Medicaid (dually enrolled), or remain in FFS Medicare without joining Medicaid. Individual plan choice was modeled using a multinomial logit. The sample includes Medic...

Rates of hospitalization due to septicemia (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, code 038) in the US elderly population for 1986-1997 were examined, using Medicare administrative data. Age group-, sex-, and race-adjusted rates more than doubled from 1986 through 1997, from 3.42 to 7.42 per 1000 beneficiaries. The 1997 rates of septicemia increased wit...

This article examines whether California Medicare beneficiaries with HIV/AIDS choose Part D prescription drug plans that minimize their expenses. Among beneficiaries without low-income supplementation, we estimate the excess cost, and the insurance policy and beneficiary characteristics responsible, when the lowest cost plan is not chosen. We use a cost calculator developed for this study, and ...

OBJECTIVES To compare patterns of emergency department (ED) use and inpatient admission rates for elderly adults with cancer with a poor prognosis who enrolled in hospice to those of similar individuals who did not. DESIGN Matched case-control study. SETTING Nationally representative sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with cancer with a poor prognosis who died in 2011. PARTI...

OBJECTIVES: To compare patterns of emergency department (ED) use and inpatient admission rates for elderly adults with cancer with a poor prognosis who enrolled in hospice to those of similar individuals who did not. DESIGN: Matched case–control study. SETTING: Nationally representative sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with cancer with a poor prognosis who died in 2011. PARTICIP...

This study estimates the probability of mental health specialist use among elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries treated for a primary psychiatric diagnosis, based on the 1991 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) and physician claims. Beneficiaries with psychotic and affective disorders or multiple psychiatric diagnoses had a higher probability of specialty use, as did beneficiaries...

The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a powerful tool for analyzing enrollees' access to medical care (Adler, 1994). Based on a stratified random sample, we can derive information about the health care use, expenditure, and financing of Medicare's 36 million enrollees. We can also learn about those enrollees' health status, living arrangements, and access to and satisfaction with ca...